The Village Murder Casebook

Case file · Series 4, Episode 3 · Season 4, Episode 3

The Electric Vendetta

An electrocuted body in a crop circle brings UFO folklore, aristocratic families and wartime memories into the same inquiry.

The 60-second case card

Should I watch this one?

Flying-saucer talk supplies the spectacle while the real mystery travels backwards through two families and an old airfield story.

Best for
Crop circles · UFO folklore · Military history
Mood
Eccentric
Team
DCI Tom Barnaby with DS Gavin Troy
Spoiler guidance
Read the premise freely; open the marked sections only after watching. Check the linked provider advisory for further viewing information.

Why it matters

Flying-saucer talk supplies the spectacle while the real mystery travels backwards through two families and an old airfield story.

A naked body is discovered inside a Midsomer Parva crop circle with signs of electrocution, puncture wounds and missing hair. Witnesses report strange lights, and another body arranged in a similar setting makes an extraterrestrial explanation irresistible to local enthusiasts.

Barnaby and Troy look past the UFO claims towards the Aubrey and Chatwyn families, a wartime episode and people whose present identities do not tell the whole story. The electricity and circles are staging devices for a very human vendetta.

  • Crop circles
  • UFO folklore
  • Military history
Break the seal: reveal the finding

The killings reenact and answer an older betrayal involving wartime relationships; the UFO evidence is an elaborate way of directing attention away from that history.

Spoiler-safe viewing companion

Three questions to carry into the episode

Use these spoiler-safe prompts to notice the setting, the investigation and the details that may matter.

  1. Place

    How does Midsomer Parva shape what people say openly, delay, or leave unsaid?

  2. Theme

    Which details seem to carry more than one meaning, and what might be a red herring?

  3. Teamwork

    Compare how DCI Tom Barnaby and DS Gavin Troy gather information: who watches the room, and who presses the conversation forward?

Browse all 100 observation cards →
More episode detailsProduction, cast, deaths and filming information

Credits, context and checked facts

Production and cast

TV series
Series 4
Episode number
Episode 3
Written by
Terry Hodgkinson
Directed by
Peter Smith
Listed transmission date(s)
2 September 2001
Reported filming period
August–September 2000
Detective
DCI Tom Barnaby
Partner
DS Gavin Troy
Pathologist
Dr Michael Rycroft · Michael Bertenshaw
Principal setting
Midsomer Parva
Casebook tone
Eccentric

Check the credits, then follow the source trail for production and filming details. Counts below describe this archive’s records.

The fictional setting and the real filming sites are separate pieces of information. The location desk currently connects it to 0 broader filming areas and 2 exact on-screen site identities.

Credits and archive connections

  • Writer credits2 episodes credited to Terry Hodgkinson
  • Director credits22 episodes directed by Peter Smith
  • Release positionCase 16 of 144
  • Story characterEccentric · Crop circles · UFO folklore
  • Location evidence2 exact screen-use matches
A pub becomes the village hall

The Crown at Pishill is redressed as Midsomer Parva Village Hall.

Midsomer Parva Stores

Stanton St John village shop supplies the fictional stores and post office seen during the inquiry.

Sources for the production file

Published episode chronology and credits ↗Official ITV programme page ↗Filming-location reference index ↗

The chronology is the reference for the credits shown here. A programme homepage does not independently verify a filming date or every production detail. Where multiple transmission dates are listed, territory attribution needs checking. Story, teleplay and adaptation distinctions require the original credit wording; links to external synopses may reveal plot details.

Selected episode credits

The Electric Vendetta cast

These selected cast entries link to their published profiles. They do not include every name shown in the end credits.

The performers behind this case

Core cast

Actor profiles for the detective, investigating partner and pathologist credited to this episode.

Actor John Nettles at a public event in 2013
Photo: Man vyi · Public domain · Source · displayed with a layout crop
Lead detective

John Nettles

Tom Barnaby · Detective Chief Inspector

An English actor, author and narrator who was already a household name as Jersey detective Jim Bergerac. After Bergerac he spent five seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company and later returned to television drama in Poldark.

  • Bergerac
  • Poldark
  • Royal Shakespeare Company
Open full actor profile →Character profile →Source: Career profile ↗
No freely reusable portrait located. A rights-cleared photograph can be added later.
Investigating partner

Daniel Casey

Gavin Troy · Detective Sergeant · later Inspector

An English stage and television actor also known for Our Friends in the North, Steel River Blues, EastEnders and Emmerdale. He later returned to the Midsomer world to play Tom Barnaby in the first professional stage adaptation.

  • Our Friends in the North
  • Steel River Blues
  • Midsomer Murders on stage
Open full actor profile →Character profile →Source: Norwich Theatre interview ↗
No freely reusable portrait located. A rights-cleared photograph can be added later.
Forensic support

Michael Bertenshaw

Dr Michael Rycroft · Guest pathologist

An English actor with a long stage career that includes the Royal Shakespeare Company and major regional theatres. His screen credits include The Da Vinci Code, Doctor Who and a broad range of British television work.

  • Royal Shakespeare Company
  • The Da Vinci Code
  • Doctor Who
Open full actor profile →Source: AHA Talent CV ↗

Portraits are used only where a reusable licence or public-domain release has been verified. Publicity stills and stock photographs are not copied into this independent guide.

Forensic desk

Dr Michael Rycroft

Credit
Guest pathologist
Played by
Michael Bertenshaw

Rycroft is the one-off examining pathologist credited for this case during an absence by George Bullard.

Meet the Casebook pathologists →

Spoiler-controlled deaths desk

Deaths recorded in this case

5 people die in this case, according to the linked death record.

Break the seal: reveal the death ledger
  1. Ronald Stokes

    Accidental, natural or other · Electrocution

    Performer check
    • Ronald Stokes: not listed in the current published cast recordNo Ronald Stokes performer appears in the current published cast record.
  2. Eddie Field (burglar)

    Accidental, natural or other · Electrocution

    Performer check
    • Eddie Field: not listed in the current published cast recordNo Eddie Field performer appears in the current published cast record. The body-count ledger misspells the role description as ‘burgler’; ‘burglar’ is used here.
  3. Steve Ramsey

    Murder · Electrocution

    Performer check
    • Steve Ramsey: Patrick BaladiThe body-count ledger prints ‘Ramsay’; the published cast record supports ‘Ramsey’, used here.
  4. Lloyd Kirby

    Murder · Fall

    Performer check
  5. Dave Ripert

    Accidental, natural or other · Vehicle or machinery

    Performer check
    • Dave Ripert: Nigel HarrisonThe body-count ledger prints ‘Rippert’; the published cast record supports ‘Ripert’, used here.
Break a second seal: reveal the verified killer
Series 4 · episode 3 · checked 14 September 2026

Verified killers

Sir Harry Chatwyn · Dave Ripert

Sir Harry murdered Steve Ramsey by electrocution. Dave killed Lloyd Kirby after Lloyd discovered the stolen goods, while Sally Boulter helped conceal the body. Ronald Stokes and Dave later died accidentally; Eddie Field's electrocution is left unresolved by the transmitted episode and is not assigned to either killer.

Verified motive

Sir Harry killed Steve because he could no longer bear Steve's mistreatment of Harry's daughter Lucy. Dave killed Lloyd after Lloyd discovered the stolen silver that Dave and Sally planned to sell before fleeing abroad, then used Lloyd's crop-circle staging to disguise the crime.

Source: episode transcript ↗

Verified important clue

Archive case 16 · checked 16 September 2026Silver oxide on Eddie Field's hands

The forensic trace points from the supposed crop-circle death to the electrically fired foundry and its stolen silver, separating an earthly theft trail from the alien staging without assigning Eddie's unresolved death to a killer.

Clue source: episode transcript ↗

Verified decisive clue

Archive case 16 · checked 17 September 2026Sir Harry's admission and Dave's packed silver

Sir Harry's admission assigns Steve's death to him and expressly excludes Lloyd's. The ferry tickets, silver deal and stolen plate recovered where Dave and Sally are preparing to flee resolve Lloyd's killing and concealment as a separate crime, while Eddie's death remains unresolved.

Decisive-clue source: episode transcript ↗

Verified red herring

Archive case 16 · checked 17 September 2026The extraterrestrial crop-circle explanation

Bodies placed in crop circles with burned fingers, puncture marks and missing hair reproduce supposed signs of alien abduction and make the UFO theory look coherent. Pathology instead identifies electrocution and post-mortem staging; the resolution separates an earthly theft, personal murder motives, accidents and Eddie Field's unresolved death.

Red-herring source: episode transcript ↗

Verified death and discovery order

Archive case 16 · checked 16 September 2026
  1. death
    Ronald Stokes is electrocuted

    Ronald dies accidentally after encountering Sir Christian's electrical defences.

  2. discovery
    Ronald is found in a crop circle

    The staged setting initially encourages an extraterrestrial explanation before the electrocution is identified.

  3. death
    Eddie Field is electrocuted

    Eddie dies by a similar electrical method, but the transmitted resolution does not identify who caused it.

  4. discovery
    A second crop-circle body

    Eddie's body is recovered from another crop circle and the repeated staging becomes part of the inquiry.

  5. death
    Steve Ramsey is murdered

    Sir Harry kills Steve by electrocution because he can no longer bear Steve's treatment of Lucy.

  6. discovery
    Sir Harry admits Steve's murder

    The electrical evidence and his account establish the one deliberate electrocution that the resolution assigns to him.

  7. death
    Lloyd Kirby is killed

    Dave kills Lloyd after Lloyd discovers the stolen silver and then uses Lloyd's crop-circle staging to hide the crime.

  8. discovery
    Lloyd is found in a crop circle

    The recovered body links the supposed alien incidents to theft and concealment.

  9. death
    Dave dies accidentally

    Dave is killed in a later accident involving farm machinery rather than by another offender.

  10. discovery
    The mixed sequence is resolved

    The final account separates Harry's murder, Dave's murder, two accidents and Eddie's unresolved electrocution.

Timeline source: episode transcript ↗
Search the complete deaths index →

Real place → fictional identity

What was filmed where?

Pishill, Oxfordshire

The Crown

Used as: The pub is redressed as Midsomer Parva Village Hall.

Stanton St John, Oxfordshire

Village shop

Used as: The shopfront becomes Midsomer Parva Stores & Post Office.

Sources support the listed site uses; they do not establish every filming location in an episode.

Wider filming areas

Places connected to this file

Location research remains open.

No real-place link is published here until it can be tied to a specific, sourced screen use.